Monahan's Mudder's Milk

I was 12 years old
When my daddy brought me here
With two brothers who loved to laugh,
But 10-20 in this muddy hole
We lost the laughing muscle mold
And my brothers lost their lives to mudders gas.

My daddy raised one fist
To tell the boss he’s pissed,
Another to the foreman on third shift,
But when he raised his shovel
To protest his low wage troubles
He was shot down and dumped in a muddy ditch.

Well mudden’s all I know
Until I’ve ‘nough to go
And take my own three boys far from here.
Maybe another place much worse
In this here cold Verse
Till then I drink my Monahan’s for cheer.

Key F

Background

It all began three years ago when I was introduced to Firefly, a Sci Fi Western by Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. I became a huge fan. The TV series is still one of my most-watched DVDs. One of my favorite episodes is “Jaynestown” where the ruffian Jayne Cobb becomes a folk hero with his own folk song, “Hero of Canton”.

I loved it so much, I wanted to write my own Firefly song, but I was too busy watching the show to really spend any time writing about it. Then I was inspired to write “She Said Her Name Was Saffron” for a contest last year. I hoped more songs would come. It didn’t until a couple weeks ago. I finally decided I was gonna write a song about mudder’s milk, the alcoholic drink from “Jaynestown”. The song evolved into a worker’s rights folk song ala Woodie Guthrie. I recorded it, and for the icing on the cake, I got a bunch of Firefly fans to sing back up in the chorus, the way a good drinking song should be sung.